Chapter 4

TALES AND STORIES.

The Kalilah wa Dimnah.--'Early Ideas.'--'Persian Portraits,'--Origin of the 'Arabian Nights.'--The Hazar Afsaneh, or Thousand Stories. Date of the 'Nights.'--Its fables and apologues the oldest part of the work.--Then certain stories--The latest tales.--Galland's edition.--His biography.--His successors, sixteen in number, ending with Payne and Burton.--The complete translations of these two last-named, in thirteen and sixteen volumes respectively.--Brief analysis of Payne's first nine, and of Burton's first ten volumes.--Short summary of twelve stories; viz.: The tale of Aziz and Azizah; the tale of Kamar Al-Zaman and the Lady Budur; Ala Aldin Abu Al-Shamat; Ali the Persian and the Kurd sharper; the man of Al-Yaman and his six slave-girls; Abu Al-Husn and his slave-girl Tawaddud; the rogueries of Dalilah the Crafty and her daughter Zeynab the Trickstress; the adventures of Quicksilver Ali of Cairo; Hasan of Busra and the king's daughter of the Jinn; Ali Nur Al-din and Miriam the girdle-girl; Kamar Al-Zaman and the jeweller's wife; Ma'aruf the cobbler and his wife Fatimah.--Remarks on Payne's three extra volumes, entitled 'Tales from the Arabic,' and on Burton's two first supplemental volumes.--Allusion to Burton's third supplemental and to Payne's thirteenth volume.--Burton's fourth, fifth, and sixth supplemental volumes. --Summing-up of the number of stories contained in the above two editions; from what manuscripts they were translated, and some final remarks.--The Kathá Sarit Ságara, a sort of Hindoo 'Arabian Nights'. --Comparison of the two works.--Brief description of the Kathá and its contents.--Gunádhya and Somadeva.--Final remarks on the stories found in the Kathá.--Antar, a Bedouin romance.--Its partial translation.--Its supposed author.--Brief description of the work, with some remarks upon it.--Both the 'Arabian Nights' and Antar rather long.--The press in England to-day.--Numerous writers of novels and story-books.--These take the place of the 'Nights,' and satisfy the public, always in search of something new, even if not true; something original, even if not trustworthy.--Final remarks.